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Watch: Relive the 10 fastest runs in Top Fuel history, as recorded by Brittany Force

Brittany Force, crew chief David Grubnic, and the team own the 10 fastest 1,000-foot speeds in NHRA Top Fuel history. Here's a video look back on all 10, plus some interesting facts about nitro racing top speeds.
14 Oct 2022
Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor
Feature

When Brittany Force made the fastest run in Top Fuel history and reset the national speed record to 338.48 mph in her Flav-R-Pac dragster in the opening round of the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway, she, crew chief David Grubnic, and the team now own the 10 fastest 1,000-foot speeds in NHRA Top Fuel history.

Her run at the NHRA Midwest Nationals broke her own national record, which had stood at 338.17 since a run at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the fall of 2019.

Force's run also knocked from the Top 10 list the oldest mark on the list, a run of 336.57 mph recorded by Tony Schumacher in Phoenix in 2018.

1

338.43

St. Louis 2022

2

338.17

Las Vegas 2 2019

3

338.00

Las Vegas 1 2022

4

337.92

Phoenix 2020

5

337.75

Gainesville 2022

6

337.75

Sonoma 2022

7

337.75

Indy 2022

8

337.66

St. Louis 2021

9

337.66

Reading 2022

10

336.91

Charlotte 2 2022

Of interest is that Force's sizzling run — and, in fact, her domination of the Top Fuel list — pales in comparison to that list of Funny Car drivers who ran faster than that in 2017 during the brief laid-back-header period or Ron Capps' scorched-earth flopper blast from Reading in 2019. Force's best Top Fuel run is only the ninth-fastest nitro pass in history, and eight of her top fastest passes are ranked between No. 12 and No. 20.

Also interesting is that the Top 20 nitro speeds list is equally distributed between Top Fuel and Funny Car.

Also worth noting is that Tony Schumacher's mind-bending pass from the 2005 Brainerd event — a quarter-mile speed of 337.58 — would still technically rank as one of the top 20 speeds (albeit No. 20).

FASTEST SPEEDS IN NHRA NITRO RACING HISTORY

1

339.87

Robert Hight

Sonoma 2017

Funny Car

2

339.28

Ron Capps

Reading 2019

Funny Car

3

339.02

Robert Hight

Reading 2017

Funny Car

4

338.85

Matt Hagan

Topeka 2017

Funny Car

5

338.77

Matt Hagan

Indianapolis 2017

Funny Car

6

338.68

Courtney Force

Topeka 2017

Funny Car

7

338.60

Robert Hight

St. Louis 2017

Funny Car

8

338.60

Robert Hight

Dallas 2017

Funny Car

9

338.43

Brittany Force

St. Louis 2022

Top Fuel

10

338.17

Brittany Force

Las Vegas 2 2019

Top Fuel

11

338.09

Robert Hight

Topeka 2017

Funny Car

12

338.00

Brittany Force

Las Vegas 1 2022

Top Fuel

13

338.00

Robert Hight

Brainerd 2017

Funny Car

14

337.92

Brittany Force

Phoenix 2020

Top Fuel

15

337.75

Brittany Force

Gainesville 2022

Top Fuel

16

337.75

Brittany Force

Sonoma 2022

Top Fuel

17

337.75

Brittany Force

Indy 2022

Top Fuel

18

337.66

Brittany Force

St. Louis 2021

Top Fuel

19

337.66

Brittany Force

Reading 2022

Top Fuel

20

337.57*

Tony Schumacher

Brainerd 2005

Top Fuel

20

336.91

Brittany Force

Charlotte 2 2022

Top Fuel

*Quarter-speed; all others were recorded in the 1,000-foot racing distance